Philippines

The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines is active in promoting that there's no need to cut back on eating locally-produced pork despite an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in neighbouring countries. There is enough pork in the Philppines and it is safe to eat.

The average farm-gate price of hogs upgraded for slaughter is 1t Php 115.58 per kilogram liveweight, 8.29 percent higher compared with the previous year's price of Php106.73 per kilogram liveweight.

As of 1 January 2019, the total swine population in the country at 12.71 million heads was 0.83 percent higher compared with its previous year's inventory of 12.60 million heads.

Stocks in the backyard and commercial farms registered an increase of 0.93 percent and 0.66 percent respectively.

Forecasts for the year 2019 indicate that hog production may likely increase by 3.2 percent compared to 2018. The trend for farm-gate prices continue to go down from July 2018 to the second quarter this year. Big volumes of imported pork affect the farm-gate prices. Inventory of imported pork in the cold storage was 39.9 million kg as of 31 March, 2019. Cost of production as of 31 March, 2019 ranges from P95-P106/kg. The threat of African swine fever might add to the slow improvement of the farm gate.

Thailand

Thailand beefs up ASF preventive measures. Thailand set aside USD 5 million to beef up measures to prevent African swine fever, which has been spreading closer to neighbouring Cambodia.

The budget will be spent from now over to the next three years for a short-term prevention plan and the long-term one. For the short-term, the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) will be increasing surveillance along the borders, setting up disinfection points for vehicles and building up incinerators to destroy infected pigs.

In the long-run, the department will work with pig producers across the country to upgrade ASF prevention measures to be in line with international standards being practised in Europe or North America.

The department categorises Thailand’s pig farmers into two groups consisting of small-scale and large-scale units. There are a total of 208,192 small-scale pig farms in the country. These farmers keep 63,000 sows, 733,000 piglets (at farrowing) and 80,000 grower/finisher pigs.

Meanwhile, there are only 2758 large-scale pig farmers in Thailand, but they own 1.137 million sows in combine. These farmers have 4.670 million piglets (at farrowing) and 8.8 million grower/finisher pigs.

The value of these pigs is estimated at USD 2.276 billion. Therefore, if the ASF outbreak were to occur in Thailand, it would lead to a huge loss to the industry. But if the country is free to the disease, the value of the entire pig industry in Thailand would also be increased a great deal due to rising pig prices.

The department forecast that an opportunity from increasing exports of live pig and pork products to ASF-hit country in Asia would lift the price of live pigs in Thailand to USD2.5/kg, up from the current price of about USD 1.8/kg.

Thailand’s DLD to imports

Purebred animals from Genesus

The DLD is planning to overhaul its pig genetics at its national pig research and development centre that have been used for over 30 years.

In doing so, it recently called for an auction of purebreds from breeders from all over the world. Genesus won the bid due to its technical specifications that fit well with the objectives of the research and development centre in acquiring the genetics that serves both producers and consumers.

On the producer side, it looks at the genetics that contribute to greater profitability to the producers due to improved performance and better meat yield. On the consumer side, the genetics have to contribute to the better meat quality that is increasingly demanded by the market.

The purebreds from Genesus serve both objectives.

Vietnam

The current pig price is recovering after the initial price decrease following the introduction of ASF up to an average liveweight of 46,000 VND/kg.

ASF doesn't stop spreading through Vietnam. During this last week, four new provinces have been affected by the disease: Thua Thien-Hue, Bac Ninh, Lai Chau and Bac Giang.

With these new provinces, there are already 21 provinces affected by ASF since the confirmation of the first case of the disease last February, with 209 confirmed outbreaks and more than 11,600 susceptible animals.

The farmer’s can see the pig price recovery will continue and exceed the previous highs for the next few years, due mainly to the reduced number of pigs due to ASF estimated to be in the region of 200 million pigs this is the equivalent to Europe’s annual pork supply.

After a couple of months with a lack of interest in breeding stock due to a 20 percent drop in pig prices and the panic caused by ASF, the farmers have started to regain confidence and start looking to update their genetics and expand.

• De Heus is cooperating with Hung Nhon group to build a 2,400 GGP/GP sows farm in Dac Lac province. The total cost is about USD 22 million with four phases (see here).
• Mavin continue to expand the scale of investment in raising pork, chicken, duck and aquaculture (see here).
• CP Vietnam plans to raise an extra 85,000 sows in Dong Nai province (see here).

Cambodia

First case of ASF in Cambodia

Cambodia reported a first outbreak of African swine fever in backyard pigs, near the Vietnam border early in April 2019.

African swine fever virus was detected in backyard pigs by National Animal Health and Production Research Institute (NAHPRI), General Directorate of Animal Health and Production (GDAHP), Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

In the backyard farm, located in Soam Thom, Oyadav district, in the province of Rattanakiri, near the border with Vietnam, there were a total of 500 susceptible animals of which 400 cases.